Gender gap in politics persists

New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito is one of only 14 women on the City Council. The other 37 council members are men. It took encouragement from another woman for Mark-Viverito to consider running for public office.

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand represents New York in Washington.  Though she graduated from an Ivy League college and practiced law New York City, it still took her 10 years. She felt she had the experience and courage to give it a go.

In a year when a woman breaks the ultimate glass ceiling by winning a major party nomination and trying to get elected to the Oval Office, the gender gap of women wanting to run for public office remains wide.

Gillibrand is one of 20 female senators. The other 80 are men. She and Mark-Viverito say more women need to do what they are doing: mentor one another and encourage another woman to run for office.